JOHANNESBURG, 8 July 2010 (IRIN) - The
La Niña phenomenon has officially arrived and disaster response teams around
the world might need to brace themselves for heavier monsoons, bigger and
more frequent hurricanes, and angrier cyclones.

"There is global consensus that
we are at the beginning of a La Niña, but we cannot pronounce the intensity
of the event yet - we have to wait for it to evolve," said Rupa Kumar
Kolli, Chief of the World Climate Applications and Services Division at
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).